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Once Smitten, Twice Shy
Synopsis: ''Ronnie Anne and Lincoln's video chat gets interrupted, leading to an unforeseen development.'' For Ronnie Anne Santiago, video chats with Lincoln served one of three purposes, often with each agenda blending into one long conversation that could last for hours. The first was just to check up on him and see how he was doing. More often than not, he'd say that he was fine but that Royal Woods just wasn't the same without her around and that he missed her. She'd return the sentiments about missing him, too, but never in the sappy way that he'd do it. The second was to give each other updates about how life at home was. Lincoln always insisted that she be the one to do most of the sharing, given how she was the one that moved to a different city and thus, had more to offer when it came to divulging about experiencing new situations. The third had somewhat to do with the second but in Ronnie Anne's opinion, it deserved its own distinction. Although she was learning to love her extensive family, there were times where they would unintentionally (though in Carl's''case, it was usually intentionally) drive her up a wall and she just ''had to tell Lincoln about it. She hesitated to call it therapy but all the same, Lincoln lending a sympathetic ear soothed her frayed nerves and made the situation a little more tolerable to handle once her chat was over. That reason took the reins of her current video chat with Lincoln, who winced in disgust when Ronnie Anne finished up her little tale about a disgusting encounter she had with her baby cousin, Carlitos. She couldn't be too mad at him, given how he was a baby and all, but that didn't make the revulsion any better. She still cringed at the thought, even if it happened about an hour ago. "Yech. Sounds rough," Lincoln said, a sympathetic tone complimenting his grimace. "Yeah. I'm still not used to handling babies just yet," Ronnie Anne said before she folded her arms across her light purple T-shirt. "Changing him is bad enough but getting puke all over my hoodie is where I draw the line." Although Lincoln chuckled, Ronnie Anne didn't have it in her to be mad. Besides, she could always just send over another pie gag in a box, to teach him a lesson, if it bothered her. "Yeah, Lily can be a handful sometimes but she's loads of fun," Lincoln said. "You just have to find something about Carlitos that you enjoy. That way, all the diaper changing and puke isn't all that bad." Ronnie Anne took a few seconds to consider Lincoln's words before a smile formed. "Well, I love it when he imitates Aunt Frida behind her back. I guess that counts for something." That comment earned another chuckle from Lincoln, infectious enough for her to join in, too. Ronnie Anne didn't know how long it lasted, until she was interrupted by a knock on her door, but in her opinion, it didn't last long enough. Ronnie Anne shot an icy glare at the door, as if it was the perpetrator behind the intrusion, before she turned to Lincoln and offered an apologetic look. "Gimme a sec," Ronnie Anne told him as she set the laptop over to the side, slid off the bed, and headed towards the door. Another barrage of knocks nearly coaxed her to snap, "I'm coming!" but she thought better of it. Even though everyone knew that Ronnie Anne didn't like to be disturbed when she was video chatting with Lincoln, a fact she made as a plain as day with her "Video Chat in Session – Do Not Disturb" sign on her bedroom door, if someone needed her for something important, it wasn't her place to turn them down. Maybe Uncle Carlos forgot where he put his car keys,' ''Ronnie Anne thought as she reached for the doorknob. '''Again. Upon opening her door, however, Ronnie Anne realized that the source of the disturbance was only a little more than half her size. She groaned, sensing trouble at the uninvited interloper and the huge grin on his face. Great, what does he want? "Make room, prima! I need to see my angel!" Carl said, brushing past Ronnie Anne as he made a beeline for her laptop. Ronnie Anne spun around just in time for Carl to be on her bed, peering closely at the screen as he picked up the laptop and held it up to his face. Her blood boiled at his lack of thoughtful handling. "Hey! What'd you think you're do-" "¿Lori? ¿Dónde está mi hermosa flor?" Carl sang as sweetly as his grating voice could allow. Unfortunately for Carl, all he could see was Lincoln's perturbed face blinking back at him in a confused stupor. Sighing, Carl set the laptop down, though a cocky smile adorned his face, despite his misfortune. "Heh, guess she's still too shy for her own good. Can't blame her, though." He rolled up his sleeves and flexed his soft, underdeveloped biceps. "You don't get these bad boys without at least 300 pull-ups every morning." Before he could flaunt his puny muscles any further, he was taken aback when Ronnie Anne picked him up by the scruff of his hoodie. He dangled about as he tried to break free with frantic limb flailing but it was no good; she had him good and with how peeved off Ronnie Anne looked, even Carl was wise enough to do no more than listen to her gripe about the line he deliberately crossed. "Carl, we've been through this; my room if off limits when I'm video chatting with Lincoln," Ronnie Anne said, her tone surprisingly measured. "I don't care if you're trying to steal my ice pops behind my back or you're trying to serenade your 'one true love'; off limits means off limits." Carl pouted indignantly, thinking he was entitled to Lori's beauty regardless of Ronnie Anne's rules. "Hey, just because you get to talk to your boyfriend doesn't mean I can't chat with my future wife." Ronnie Anne clamped down an angry retort as her cheeks heated up from embarrassment, knowing that a sharp, verbal objection would get her nowhere. Her family still insisted that she and Lincoln were more than friends, even after it was painfully obvious that that totally was not the case. Seriously, it wasn't. Just then, Ronnie Anne had an idea that would give both her and Carl what they wanted. "Look, if you promise to leave afterwards," Ronnie Anne said, her blush fading, "I'll get Lincoln to bring Lori into his room so you and her can have a brief, and I mean brief, discussion." It worked better than she thought. She almost laughed at how Carl eagerly nodded at the proposal. Turning to Lincoln, Ronnie Anne asked, "You can do that, right?" "Eh…" Ronnie Anne couldn't blame him for looking apprehensive about the idea, which made her all the more grateful when he accepted. "Sure. Why not?" With that, Ronnie Anne sat in front of her laptop while Carl shuffled into her cross-legged lap. She rolled her eyes as he checked his breath for halitosis. You know she can't smell you through the laptop, right? "I think she's in the kitchen right now," Lincoln said, getting up to move out of his chair. "I'll try to be quick so I can-" "LINCOLN!" He froze up mid-motion as his eyes widened. Ronnie Anne and Carl jumped back a bit from the sudden outburst, though Carl quickly regained his composure to smirk at Lincoln's petrified expression, par the course for his schadenfreude. He didn't know who it was that yelled at Lincoln but he couldn't help but feel delight at his alarmed face. "Man, are you in for it or what?" he asked cheekily. Lincoln ignored him in favor of giving Ronnie Anne his attention. "Just a sec, Ronnie Anne," he said before turning away, presumably at his bedroom door. "What'd you want, Lola?! The door's unlocked so if you need something, just come in here and-" A loud thud, from the violent opening of his door, interjected him before he could say another word. Ronnie Anne and Carl watched as Lincoln paid heed to the off-screen disturbance with a nervous smile. "Could you please tell Lana that the point of cops and robbers is for the cop, that being me, to win?!" Lincoln sighed. "Lola, look, I'd love to help but I'm in the middle of a video chat with Ronnie Anne. You mind getting someone else to help you?" "Ronnie Anne?" Lola asked. Lincoln felt his stomach churning when her frown melted into a wily grin, knowing that a teasing remark was soon to follow. "Well, well, well, looks like I came in at just the right time. I haven't seen my future sister-in-law in ages." More irritated by the comment than embarrassed, Lincoln just groaned as Lola climbed up Lincoln's legs to sit on his lap. Lola waved at Ronnie Anne curtly upon seeing her. "Why hello, Ronnie Anne. You're looking well." Ronnie Anne returned the wave half-heartedly. "Hey, Lola. You too." Though seeing Lola wasn't a displeasure, she really wanted to get back to her one-on-one with Lincoln. "Listen, I don't mean to cut things short but I really need a favor right now. Could you go get Lori for…" She paused when she took in Lola's sudden reaction to…something that Ronnie Anne couldn't discern. "…me? Is…is everything okay, Lola?" She didn't know what to think about Lola's disposition. One second, she was her usual self, domineering her will of the situation, and the next, she was...shyly looking at her, twirling a finger into her locks, and blushing? What? Before she could ask Lincoln what Lola's deal was, he addressed her with about as much incredulity as she was feeling to this new development. "Um, Ronnie Anne?" He pointed down and Ronnie Anne got the message. She peered down at her lap and nearly gasped. She had thought she had seen it all with her family but Carl's current demeanor took the cake. His expression practically mirrored Lola's; his flushed face, his shy grin, and eyes that darted around the room whenever he would lock eyes with…Lincoln? 'No, hold on a second.' ''Upon further inspection, she realized that Lola hadn't been looking at her and Carl hadn't been looking at Lincoln. Rather, they were taken in by the sight of…each other. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne looked up at each other, knowing grins on their faces that housed stifled snickers. Apparently, love was in the air. Not between them, of course, but between the first graders that couldn't help but be mesmerized by one another, the long distance of their locations doing nothing to stifle the potency of their captivation. After about a minute of just staring and blushing, Lola was the first to speak up. "Hi," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. Carl grinned dazedly. "''Hola." Then, it was right back to awkward silence and bashful admiration. By this point, even Ronnie Anne had had enough, wanting to go eat some lunch before picking things up with Lincoln at a different time. While the little lovebirds continued to gaze at each other, she sent a message to Lincoln in their private chatbox, letting Lincoln know that she'd be back to talk to him later. Once she got a reply back, letting her know that he didn't mind, she turned her laptop off, causing Carl to snap out of his trance. "So, Carl, I take it you found your angel?" Ronnie Anne asked, her teasing tone doing nothing but make Carl sigh dreamily. "Uh-huh," he said distantly, another blush stretching across his face. As Ronnie Anne watched Carl hop of her lap to leave her room, an evident pep in his step, she realized that this only meant that he'd be coming around a lot more often. But if it meant seeing him get knocked off his stride like that, she'd definitely allow it way less begrudgingly than usual. Category:Episodes